Batkivshchyna to contribute to development of a new concept for peace in Donbas

During her recent trip to the United States, Batkivshchyna faction head Yulia Tymoshenko met with high-ranking officials responsible for Ukraine and discussed a fundamentally new concept and strategy for ending the war in Donbas and restoring peace in Ukraine.

“Part of my visited to the United States was devoted to finding a new way of bringing peace to Ukraine. Today, countries that are friends of Ukraine, analysts and people that deal with Ukraine are discussing a new way, a new peace strategy, and the Batkivshchyna team is taking part in this discussion,” Yulia Tymoshenko said on channel NewsOne.

The parliamentarian said that she and members of Batkivshchyna had “important political meetings” with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker, as well as a number of meetings with representatives of committees on international relations and people dealing with security and intelligence.

According to the politician, there are two components to resolving the conflict in East Ukraine. The first is bringing in a UN Peacekeeping Mission under the leadership of Sweden or Finland, and the other is an International Civilian Administration. However, both require clear mandates.

“First of all, will the UN mission have any influence on the Russian Federation or not? Will it be positioned on the border between Ukraine and Russia and the line of contact?” the parliamentarian noted.

Yulia Tymoshenko also noted that there should be three stages to this solution. The first involves the UN Peacekeeping Mission ensuring the demilitarization of occupied territories.

“A UN Peacekeeping Mission, which should protect the OSCE mission on the line of separation, will only be deployed for several weeks and allow an open corridor between Ukraine and Russia for the withdrawal of all aggressive forces: Russian armed forces, armaments and heavy equipment,” the head of the Batkivshchyna faction said.

The second stage is an International Civilian Administration.

“This International Civilian Administration will take control of the system of management, restore order and enforce Ukrainian laws,” she explained.

The parliamentarian said the third stage involved the “transfer of UN International Peacekeeping forces to the border between Ukraine and Russia.”

“This will secure peace, demilitarization, operation of Ukrainian laws, and return peaceful life to occupied territories,” the politician explained.

The politician also raised the issue of returning Crimea to Ukrainian jurisdiction, becuase today “the world is trying to resolve the issue of peace in Donbas, and putting aside the issue of Crimea.”

“We as a country must not allow anyone in the world to remove Crimea from the agenda,” she said.

Yulia Tymoshenko also added that all three stages should be adopted within the framework of a single UN resolution.

“There should not be three UN resolutions on each stage of regulating the conflict in East Ukraine, but all three stages should be adopted in one UN resolution, so that nobody can change anything in the package that will be approved,” she stressed.

Yulia Tymoshenko also emphasized that during her meetings they also discussed creating a single global fund for the reconstruction and development of occupied territories after their liberation, which will “create thousands of jobs and lay the foundation for the development of Donbas and all Ukraine.”

“We believe that this could be the road to peace. Our team will do the impossible for this plan to be realized and for Ukraine to restore its integrity, and so that we have real peace, not an illusion of peace,” Yulia Tymoshenko added.